Sustainable Agriculture Works

For more than 30 years I have spent my life dedicated to natural resource conservation and protection of the environment. Since 1980 onwards we experimented on what we call then sustainable agriculture covering permaculture, natural farming, bio intensive gardens, bio dynamic agriculture, organic farming and a combination of the above. We focused primarily on rice in Infanta Quezon. Before I was merely an advocate without concrete and actual long term experience in the agricultural processes except through books and constant visits to
farmers' farms and our own demonstration farm..

In 1981 onwards to be able to understand not only technology but the farmers' life, difficulties and joys,I did actual tests with the farmers and somehow succeeded in veering away from "synthetic chemical" organic or synthetic or inorganic and organic, they are all categorized as chemicals...

GMO, hybrid, in bred, organic or inorganic inputs used; productivity increase or decrease in utilization are all definitely relative. It all depends on how a certain technology is used, what are the environmental factors of the soil, the cllimate and culture of the specific agricultural community... Comparisons would need similar is
not thesame parameters, both controlled and variables.

What is important I suppose are two urgent matters.

1. Will it be good for the farmers and the environment: will the farmers conserve nature through a technology, are they self reliant, can they depend on the environment which will make agri sutainable, will they get net income from the process of agriculture they are embedded in, can the markets absorb their products as the best product. These are practical questions we need to answer whenever we compare technologies lest some non friendly "sayantists" not necessarily scientists keep on on endless debates.

2. Do we consider philosophical as well as spiritual values of humankind and their relationship with nature, God and other members of society, more specially with the creator.

Let me end by sharing our latest efforts in Infanta. We were victims of the great disaster of 2004 where more than a 1000 has. of prime rice lands were submerged in mud, forest debris and rushing flood water for 2 days. When the waters receded we were left with powder like mud that is so infertile that some scientists warned me we wont be able to rehabilitate for two years at least. As the waters receded they brought to the sea the fertile top soil from the mountain and the former topsoil was buried to to three feet under the mud. Stubborn as we are, we came together and used all the knowedge and practices that we know and continuously studied with other groups.
We fine tuned and zealously pursued 10 best practices in rice. After two harvest where during which they simply kept what ever grew as bio mass, we started to plant.

Today more than before our top farmer harvests 9.2 tons of rice per has. Others get at least 120 cavans, 130, 140 150 170 cavans per hactare. Mind you no pesticides(toxic)were used. No hybrid seeds, all inbred but best cared for using our seed purification methods. For the soil we used a mixed fertilization or LEISA method as we veer away from synthetics.

3. What we did then was an antidote to green revolution. However, today, GMP which is considered the second green revolution has a lot of dangers over and beyond my two other comments above. Namely farmers welfare and sustainability as well as self reliance and not to be controlled by a few. Why is it more dangerous, because, GM is not necessarily safe. To unleash the experiment on poor, naive to this type of science where those doing the experiment donot provide insurance coverage to whatever negative effects happen is an injustice itself. Remember up to today, were the farmers compensated to the sickness and death of some farmers for the use of pesticides, the death of biodiversity in the soil due to the constant use of toxic synthetic chemicals. The risk is always care of the farmers. Most Asian farmers are small holders or landless. They are most vulnerable to vagaries of nature and science...If there are not guaranteed for field experiments, then let the experiment be isolated in the laboratories.

I hope this letter can help in the issues we are discussing. It is good to note that our experience is a proof that properly studied, guided and used, the participatory approach to agriculture can best promote what we struggle to show as sustainable agriculture.

Fr. Francis Lucas
President
ICDAI a community based organization in Infanta, Quezon
Chariperson